There is something like the miracle of Pentecost in modern Israel where the revived Hebrew tongue – long a dead language except for study of the Bible and Talmud – can be heard. In the book of Acts the reversal of the proliferated tongues at the Tower of Babel is suggested. In that ancient story as in Jewish life before the twentieth century there was the division of a people meant to be one. Now there is restoration to unity. St. Luke, the author of Acts, makes the subject of everyone’s discourse “God’s deeds of power” (2:11). This will be spelled out in the passage that follows immediately as the career and glorification of God by Jesus.
We are seven weeks removed from Easter, the time between Passover and Shavuoth or Weeks. This was the second spring agricultural festival in biblical times. The Jews of Jesus’ day who spoke Greek called it Pentekostē, the fiftieth day. Two aspects of the marvel of Galileans speaking in the various tongues listed are pointed out: confusion and utter amazement at the marvel and the widespread geographic character of the Jews assembled. There is no gentile witness yet. The author is saving that for the conversion of the household of the Roman centurion Cornelius in Chapter 10. Meanwhile he employs the signs of the zodiac to convey universality. Persia (Parthia in the list) was aries, the ram; Syria, capra the goat; Egypt aquarius; Italy (or Rome) scorpio, and so on. There are a few substitutions like Pontus for Armenia and Phrygia and Pamphilia – provinces of Asia Minor – in place of Hellas-Ionia. In general, though, the account makes clear that the spread of the gospel to far-flung parts existed embryonically on Pentecost through the Jews assembled in Jerusalem.
Quite clearly the Christian movement was a Jewish phenomenon in its origins. Yet the power of Holy Spirit was not as strong a force as the will to division between Jews and Greeks. Both clung to their customs; early unity of faith in God through Jesus was lost. God’s spirit is all-powerful but it leaves the freedom of the human will and the force of passion and prejudice intact.
The gospel of John tells of the gift of the Spirit in terms much less dramatic than those of Luke-Acts. But it is just as much a reality to this evangelist. The outpouring of divine force or influence is central to the entire New Testament. Spirit accounts for Jesus’ equality with God, for his deeds of power. He does not simply die on the cross, he “delivers over his spirit.” By Holy Spirit in power he is raised up from the dead. He gives the gift of the Spirit to achieve reconciliation among sinful human beings. But, in the speech of rabbis, the sins of some can be retained; they are held bound. Forgiveness is not complete because there is some barrier. Petitioners of forgiveness are not themselves in a mood to forgive.
Sometimes you hear it said of a person, “He or she is a good hater.” Christians – genuine followers of Jesus – are poor haters. Their memories of a wound, a hurt, a gross injustice may be as keen as anyone’s. They do not cultivate amnesia; that would be unrealistic. But they let God’s spirit heal. In a polarized, divided world where some politicians stoke fear and encourage hatred, Christians are called to resist giving in to such powerful emotions. Forgiveness entails doubting our fear-based conclusions. Forgiveness calls us to trust in God’s power to initiate resurrection in our midst, precisely where we least expected it. Our lives exist in, are known through, and defined by broken relationships. But it is not so with our relationship with God. Jesus gives us his spirit, establishing a bond with us that cannot be broken.
At Pentecost we celebrate the Spirit’s outpouring in full measure on the company of believers that we are: a people warmed, illumined, strengthened, reconciled by a power that far outstrips our own. Like the entombed Jesus we are figuratively a corpse until breathed into by the breath, the Spirit of God.
Kevin+
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